About Us

Zach is Wordsmiths Books' owner/operator. Zach has several years of bookselling experience, both at large chains and independent bookstores. It's always been Zach's dream to own a bookstore. He enjoys science fiction, and among his favorite authors are Terry Pratchett, Timothy Zahn, and David L. Robbins. Zach encourages you to write him at zach@wordsmithsbooks.com with any comments.

Dea Anne is Wordsmiths Books' operations manager. An enthusiastic and passionate bookseller for many years, Dea Anne is especially enthusiastic and passionate about independent bookstores. Dea Anne has lived in Decatur for a number of years as well and loves it. Her favorite authors are Flannery O’Connor, Elizabeth Hand, and Jane Bowles.

Russ is the director of marketing and publicity for Wordsmiths Books. In short, this means he runs around a lot looking frantic about ten minutes before author events. Russ’s background in is in New Media marketing and publicity, and he cut his teeth in the world of music journalism, but he’s a book lover first and foremost. His favorite author is Bret Easton Ellis, but he also loves Toni Morrison, Marisha Pessl, John Updike, Djuna Barnes, and Dave Eggers. Russ also greatly enjoys Japanese psychological horror fiction (Suzuki’s Ring Cycle, for instance), and reads Ulysses for fun because it’s just a silly book.

Mike is the webmaster and director of internet sales for Wordsmiths Books. Mike has 14 years of bookselling experience, including managing an independent bookstore for 10 years and running the store's website for 8 years. In fact, he actually had hair when he first became a bookseller. Mike likes to read thrillers, especially those with a comedic touch. His favorite authors include Bill Fitzhugh, Carl Hiaasen, and Christopher Moore, but he also likes more serious thriller writers such as Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, and James Grippando.

Alice, a senior at UGA majoring in Social Science Education, came to Wordsmiths Books because she is married to Zach, the owner. She likes to read everything from fiction to non-fiction. Some of her favorite authors include Douglas Adams, Robert Jordan, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, and Christopher Moore. When not slaving her life away for her husband here at the store, Alice enjoys taking care of the family zoo, and she claims to be into underwater basket weaving.

Lucy is new to the South. Born and raised in Maine, she spent the last five years in Manhattan getting her bachelor's degree in cultural studies at New York University. Having been mired in discourse and theory for all that time, she is happy to be able to read for fun again. Her favorite books include Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Breakfast of Champions, Franny and Zooey, A Room With a View, Jane Eyre, Naked, and the Harry Potter series. Lucy also enjoys authors like Haruki Murakami, Lester Bangs, Kate Bornstein, Jeff Noon, Oscar Wilde, Flannery O'Connor, Jim Thompson, and Amy Sedaris.

Katie has recently moved to Decatur and has embraced her new surroundings with the help of her trusted fellow book lovers and photographers alike. Her favorite authors include Cynthia Heimel, Sylvia Plath, Dorothy Parker, and Nick Hornby. Katie likes books that are angsty, funny, and original.

A 10-year veteran of the book world, John holds an A.B. degree in English and is an ardent Anglophile. He enjoys cooking, travel, art, and running. John worries about a generation of Americans who think store-bought mayonnaise, Christmas trees at Thanksgiving, and 100 channels on tv are normal. He likes general fiction, especially English classics and Southern authors, but he also likes biographies and gardening, design, and art books. John reads through every new cookbook and can predict if the recipes actually work at home.

A recent graduate of Oglethorpe University (that “castle-looking” school on Peachtree Road), Rachael lives with four spider plants and a perpetual sinkful of dirty dishes in Decatur (though she still calls Chattanooga, Tennessee, home). Her favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose name she still occasionally (and quite unfathomably) confuses with that of the incredibly attractive Mexican actor, Gael Garcia Bernal. Rachael is very excited to be working at a bookstore for the first time, and would like to thank the folks at Paste magazine (her “day job”) for letting her moonlight.

Becca recently graduated from Agnes Scott College where she studied English literature, psychology, and dance. She likes to read and dance, and she loves folk music, the mountains, camping, decorating, and the colors brown and turquoise. Becca likes classic fiction, especially magical realism, postmodern fiction, and modern poetry. Some of her favorite authors are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jack Kerouac, F. Scott Fitzgerald, W. H. Auden, and Vladimir Nabakov. Becca's current favorite novel is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.